“Hey! You’re that smart girl in Mr. Nevins class aren’t you?” A girl with long curly blonde hair asked.
“I suppose that’s me.” I answered shyly. “My name is Emma.”
“I’m Claire, and this is Becka.” She replied motioning to the girl with short unnaturally red hair beside her. I smiled and nodded not knowing what to say next, so I turned for the door. “Want to get high?” Claire called after me and I stopped for a moment not sure how to answer.
“Sure.” I replied. I was already late for the next class and coming in halfway through would be worse than not showing up at all. A smile beamed across Claire’s face and she pulled a small mint tin from her bag. She opened it up and pulled out a joint. I had gotten high once before so I knew what to expect. Claire lit the joint and passed it to Becka just as she coughed and sputtered. “You okay?” I asked as her face turned beat red. She nodded and Becka shoved the joint in my face. I took a small hit and struggled to hold it in. My lungs burned from the harsh intrusion and I began to hack and cough worse than Claire had. “Here.” I said holding it out for Claire to take again. She spontaneously broke into a giggle fit. I don’t know what was so funny but her laughter was contagious and soon we were all gasping for air and laughing louder and louder as we passed the joint a few more times.
“Girls” I loud booming voice called from outside the door.
“Shh...” Claire whispered entirely too loudly.
“Come out here right now.” The voice called again and I could tell they were losing their patience.
“You go!” Claire said, shoving me towards the door.
“No!” I protested.
“I’m on probation!” Becka whispered and whoever was on the other side of the door knocked, causing us all to jump and stop talking.
“Fine, fuck it.” I muttered under my breath and the girls scurried off into a stall. I took a deep breath and pushed open the bathroom door. On the other side stood the most beautiful man I had ever laid eyes on, Mr. Honor. His jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. He was pissed, but I could not help but laugh.
Chapter Three
“Emma? You think this is funny?” he scolded me. I tried to stifle my giggles and shake my head no, but when I held back a laugh, I also stopped breathing causing me to feel woozy. He grabbed my upper arm and squeezed entirely too tightly, pulling me down the hall towards his room. Luckily, the halls were empty and no one saw how ridiculous I was behaving.
“You’re lucky I don’t have a class this period.” He said as he glanced around the hall before shutting his door, pulling down the little shade that covered the window. It suddenly hit me that I could be suspended, and all the suffering I had been putting up with would be for nothing. He ran his hands through his chestnut brown hair and it fell perfectly back into place. I realized I was staring and quickly looked away as he fidgeted with his ruler. I should have been pleading with him to not report me but my head swirled and I just could not summon the energy to care. I bit my lip nervously and waited for him to yell at me some more.
“Stop biting your lip.” He said angrily and slapped the ruler on the desk, apparently losing his train of thought. I jumped and bit my lip harder by accident, drawing blood.
“I’m sorry.” I said under my breath, not knowing what else to say. I touched my lip and pulled my fingers back, looking at the smattering of blood. He stood up from his desk and walked towards me. My stomach fluttered. He brushed his thumb across my lower lip, his blue eyes locked dead onto mine. I sucked in a ragged breath and held it, afraid that if I moved it would break me from this dream.
“Breathe.” He whispered as he leaned in close enough for me to feel his warm breath across my face, sending a chill down my body. A loud ringing broke the spell and he closed his eyes for a moment before turning to dig his cell phone out from his pocket. I stood there awkwardly as he talked. His answers were clipped and I could not tell if the person he was talking to was male or female. His eyes danced up and down my body as he spoke and I could feel my cheeks burning. I bit the edge of my lip but quickly released it as he narrowed his eyes at me. I decided to start wandering around the room and reading the posters on the wall. I felt rude standing there listening to his conversation.
“You should get to your next class. The bells about to ring.” He said quietly into my ear. His hot breath on my neck made my body melt. I had not even heard him end his call.
“So, I’m not in trouble?” I asked, too nervous to turn around and face him.
“I didn’t say that.” From the tone of his voice, I could tell that he was smiling. I sucked in another ragged breath and nodded my head.